12-15-2023, 01:31 PM
Several people have been saying some of this. Wyches Warriors & Killer Goose
Excerpts….Paul Dehner - The Athletic - Bengals offensive rebirth: What changed, what hasn’t, what’s next
Undeniably, on offense, they don’t just look like a playoff team. They look different.
“I don’t know if it’s really been that different,” head coach Zac Taylor said.
OK, maybe not everyone agrees on the verbiage. Let’s go with a reallocation of resources.
“They’re all things we’ve done over the course of the season,” Taylor said. “Each defense we play is a big driving force for how the game is played. We haven’t called a single play that we didn’t rep all training camp and fall. These guys believe in what we’re doing and have done a great job. We’ve really called upon every resource we have on offense, and everyone has stepped up.”
Those resources have seen so much success that it’s fair to wonder if schemes and strategies employed over this stretch might become foundational additions when Joe Burrow returns next season.
Those discussions are for another day and a more relaxed moment. For now, the Bengals have found strategies that work. They might not be the ones you think, though.
To better understand what’s changed in the Bengals’ offense, specifically from a play-calling perspective, requires filtering to neutral downs.
To do that, I looked at all plays on first and second down when the score margin was within 10 points in the first three quarters. I also extracted all goal-to-go plays to avoid situational outliers.
This neutral play subset illustrates two significant schematic points of emphasis and one false narrative.
Bengals' neutral down play selection
STATS LAST 3 W5-W11 VS INDY NFL 2023
Plays 84 179 28 11,082
Play action% 29% 22% 36% 20%
Shotgun% 67% 88% 57% 67%
Dropback% 61% 66% 64% 56%
1. Taylor is not running the ball more. All those carries filling the box score have come in putting away wins and goal-line situations. When extracting to true neutral downs, you can see the propensity to pass dipped only marginally.
2. The difference is rooted in how they are executing the offense. The shift from shotgun to under center has been seismic. With a fully healthy Burrow from Week 5 to Week 11, they were in shotgun 88 percent of the time. With Browning, that’s changed to right at the league average. They leaned even further into it against Indianapolis at only 57 percent shotgun.
3. With the increase of under-center has come the increase of play-action. The Bengals used 14 percent more play action against Indianapolis than they did with a healthy Burrow.
All these factors have led to a dramatic rise in explosive plays which have been the overriding difference in the offense. The actual run production has stayed at a fairly consistent level on neutral downs.
Bengals neutral down play efficiency
STAT LAST 3 W5-W11 VS INDY NFL 2023
Success% 46% 56% 50% 47%
Yards/Attempt 10.2 7.3 13.5 7.4
Yards/Rush 4.7 4.6 4.8 4.6
10+gain% 29% 20% 32% 20%
These shifts aren’t complicated and make perfect sense. Burrow didn’t love under-center plays. Turning his back to the defense didn’t fit his processing superpower as well as shotgun. He preferred to stand back, survey the field, dissect and rip completions.
Browning has more comfort turning his back to the defense and could use the extra time provided. That has unlocked different corners of the playbook.
The most notable change, which I wrote about last week, is the rise of the screen game out of thin air. The Bengals piled on to the trend, running six screens against Indianapolis, more than any game under Taylor, including three that went for a combined 124 yards and a touchdown.
There’s a reason under center play action (UCPA) continues to be emphasized. Beyond screens, Browning is thriving in it.
In the last three weeks on UCPA, Browning is 11 of 14 for 240 yards, 10 first downs and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. Those incompletions include a drop by Tee Higgins 10 yards downfield and one throwaway. Browning also scrambled three times for 27 yards with no sacks.
The Bengals only ran 11 UCPA snaps in the first 10 games of the season.
“The more you can do, the more looks you present to the defense and the more that all those looks have multiple things you can run out of those formations or those sets, I think it makes it difficult,” Browning said of increased usage under center.
The rise of UCPA coincided with the disappearance of the empty formation. After the debacle against the Pittsburgh Steelers where Browning struggled to process at nearly the same level in empty as Burrow, the Bengals burned those pages of the playbook.
They averaged eight plays a game out of the empty set from Week 5 to Week 12.
They haven’t run a single play out of empty the last two weeks.
That shines a light on the other aspects of this form. The Bengals’ offensive line has started living up to the preseason hype. In a league where most teams are dipping into the reserves up front, no team has played more snaps with the same starting five as Cincinnati. Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa and Jonah Williams have started all 13 games together.
Gaining a lift from less true pass sets and exposures to empty, protection shined. They only allowed three pressures against the Colts, according to PFF, a season low. They also snapped a 42-game streak of allowing at least one sack.
“Our O-line is playing great football,” Browning said. “I think there’s a lot written about our guys on the outside, and obviously they’re some of the best players in the NFL too, and Joe Mixon is a great running back. But, our O-line and our tight ends have been blocking their asses off, and I think that’s a big part of why we’ve been successful.”
Browning’s not wrong. When allowed to stand in the pocket without pressure, he has carved up the Jacksonville Jaguars and Colts.
When not pressured, he’s 42 of 46 for 498 yards, a staggering 91 percent completion rate. Those four incompletions include two batted passes, a drop and Sunday’s interception.
Meanwhile, he’s 8 of 15 for 131 yards when under pressure. Those numbers are buoyed by the 76-yard touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase in Jacksonville.
The bottom line: Keep pressure numbers low and Browning’s pattern suggests sustainability. The primary issue there would be the degree of difficulty is about to rise substantially.
Excerpts….Paul Dehner - The Athletic - Bengals offensive rebirth: What changed, what hasn’t, what’s next
Undeniably, on offense, they don’t just look like a playoff team. They look different.
“I don’t know if it’s really been that different,” head coach Zac Taylor said.
OK, maybe not everyone agrees on the verbiage. Let’s go with a reallocation of resources.
“They’re all things we’ve done over the course of the season,” Taylor said. “Each defense we play is a big driving force for how the game is played. We haven’t called a single play that we didn’t rep all training camp and fall. These guys believe in what we’re doing and have done a great job. We’ve really called upon every resource we have on offense, and everyone has stepped up.”
Those resources have seen so much success that it’s fair to wonder if schemes and strategies employed over this stretch might become foundational additions when Joe Burrow returns next season.
Those discussions are for another day and a more relaxed moment. For now, the Bengals have found strategies that work. They might not be the ones you think, though.
To better understand what’s changed in the Bengals’ offense, specifically from a play-calling perspective, requires filtering to neutral downs.
To do that, I looked at all plays on first and second down when the score margin was within 10 points in the first three quarters. I also extracted all goal-to-go plays to avoid situational outliers.
This neutral play subset illustrates two significant schematic points of emphasis and one false narrative.
Bengals' neutral down play selection
STATS LAST 3 W5-W11 VS INDY NFL 2023
Plays 84 179 28 11,082
Play action% 29% 22% 36% 20%
Shotgun% 67% 88% 57% 67%
Dropback% 61% 66% 64% 56%
1. Taylor is not running the ball more. All those carries filling the box score have come in putting away wins and goal-line situations. When extracting to true neutral downs, you can see the propensity to pass dipped only marginally.
2. The difference is rooted in how they are executing the offense. The shift from shotgun to under center has been seismic. With a fully healthy Burrow from Week 5 to Week 11, they were in shotgun 88 percent of the time. With Browning, that’s changed to right at the league average. They leaned even further into it against Indianapolis at only 57 percent shotgun.
3. With the increase of under-center has come the increase of play-action. The Bengals used 14 percent more play action against Indianapolis than they did with a healthy Burrow.
All these factors have led to a dramatic rise in explosive plays which have been the overriding difference in the offense. The actual run production has stayed at a fairly consistent level on neutral downs.
Bengals neutral down play efficiency
STAT LAST 3 W5-W11 VS INDY NFL 2023
Success% 46% 56% 50% 47%
Yards/Attempt 10.2 7.3 13.5 7.4
Yards/Rush 4.7 4.6 4.8 4.6
10+gain% 29% 20% 32% 20%
These shifts aren’t complicated and make perfect sense. Burrow didn’t love under-center plays. Turning his back to the defense didn’t fit his processing superpower as well as shotgun. He preferred to stand back, survey the field, dissect and rip completions.
Browning has more comfort turning his back to the defense and could use the extra time provided. That has unlocked different corners of the playbook.
The most notable change, which I wrote about last week, is the rise of the screen game out of thin air. The Bengals piled on to the trend, running six screens against Indianapolis, more than any game under Taylor, including three that went for a combined 124 yards and a touchdown.
There’s a reason under center play action (UCPA) continues to be emphasized. Beyond screens, Browning is thriving in it.
In the last three weeks on UCPA, Browning is 11 of 14 for 240 yards, 10 first downs and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. Those incompletions include a drop by Tee Higgins 10 yards downfield and one throwaway. Browning also scrambled three times for 27 yards with no sacks.
The Bengals only ran 11 UCPA snaps in the first 10 games of the season.
“The more you can do, the more looks you present to the defense and the more that all those looks have multiple things you can run out of those formations or those sets, I think it makes it difficult,” Browning said of increased usage under center.
The rise of UCPA coincided with the disappearance of the empty formation. After the debacle against the Pittsburgh Steelers where Browning struggled to process at nearly the same level in empty as Burrow, the Bengals burned those pages of the playbook.
They averaged eight plays a game out of the empty set from Week 5 to Week 12.
They haven’t run a single play out of empty the last two weeks.
That shines a light on the other aspects of this form. The Bengals’ offensive line has started living up to the preseason hype. In a league where most teams are dipping into the reserves up front, no team has played more snaps with the same starting five as Cincinnati. Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa and Jonah Williams have started all 13 games together.
Gaining a lift from less true pass sets and exposures to empty, protection shined. They only allowed three pressures against the Colts, according to PFF, a season low. They also snapped a 42-game streak of allowing at least one sack.
“Our O-line is playing great football,” Browning said. “I think there’s a lot written about our guys on the outside, and obviously they’re some of the best players in the NFL too, and Joe Mixon is a great running back. But, our O-line and our tight ends have been blocking their asses off, and I think that’s a big part of why we’ve been successful.”
Browning’s not wrong. When allowed to stand in the pocket without pressure, he has carved up the Jacksonville Jaguars and Colts.
When not pressured, he’s 42 of 46 for 498 yards, a staggering 91 percent completion rate. Those four incompletions include two batted passes, a drop and Sunday’s interception.
Meanwhile, he’s 8 of 15 for 131 yards when under pressure. Those numbers are buoyed by the 76-yard touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase in Jacksonville.
The bottom line: Keep pressure numbers low and Browning’s pattern suggests sustainability. The primary issue there would be the degree of difficulty is about to rise substantially.
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
